Some names convey ancientness. For example, Abyssinia anciently includes modern Eritrea’s and Ethiopia’s highlands. It is home to Abyssinian genets, Pharaonic Egypt’s beloved pets.

Whatever and whoever carries the names Abyssinia and Abyssinian claims ancient legacies.• The adjective and the noun conjure up bygone events and long-ago times, not vanished places or vanquished beings.

Abyssinia in fact designates specific bio-geographies.• It exists as an ancient identification for the Eritrean and Ethiopian highlands in the Horn of northeast Africa.• Archaeologically, it guards artifacts from powerful societies such as that of the Queen of Sheba, wise King Solomon’s contemporary in Old Testament times.• Culturally, it hallows the homeland of two languages -- Amharic and Tigrinya -- linked with Africa’s longstanding Christian populations.• Ecologically, it offers the environmental conditions, prevailing vegetation, and surface geology facilitating the survival and the sustainability of rare Abyssinian genets.

Detail of panel of King Solomon welcoming Queen of Sheba

Genet fossils date back 2,558,000 -- 5,332,000 years in Africa. They define a tree-loving omnivore whose evolution from the proposed ancestor of all carnivores -- the civet- and marten-like, lithe-bodied, long-tailed miacids of 33,000,000 -- 62,000,000 years ago -- may be clear, direct, and faithful. They describe a ground-foraging mammal whose elongated skull, flexible skeleton with digitigrade (“on the digits,” tiptoes”) phalanges (“digits”) and extended tail, and goodly dentition (“arrangement, kind, and number of teeth”) remain evident, recognizable, and unchanged among today’s genets in general and in Abyssinia’s genets in particular. They function as especially helpful guideposts since budget-strapped researchers lack ample access to:

Abyssinian Genet (Genetta abyssinica) range

Scientists consider Abyssinian and other non-aquatic genets members of the taxonomic genus Genetta, a scientific name which originates in the French version, genette, of the original Arabic designation, jarnait. Inaccessible bio-geography of genet populations and limited funding for genet research do not allow clear, comprehensive understanding by twenty-first century scientists of the nocturnal arborealist’s life cycle and natural history. Abyssinian genets consequently find themselves in a genus whose number of valid species contracts and expands with the particular scientist’s individualized experiences and hypotheses. But they find themselves not at all alone in claiming as home Abyssinia’s modern geo-political configurations. Common European small-spotted (Genetta genetta) and rusty-spotted panther (Genetta maculata) genets also include Africa’s Horn within their homelands.

Common European small-spotted genets (Genetta genetta) overlap with Abyssinian Genets in Ethiopian Highlands.

The successful pursuit of omnivorous diets can be considered a convincing example of the carnivorous Abyssinian genet’s adaptable intelligence. Eduard’s Abyssinian genets display additionally persuasive environmental adaptability by accepting a range of habitats within:

Djibouti;

Eritrea;

Ethiopia (central and southern areas);

Somalia (northwestern portion);

Sudan (central, eastern, and southern regions).

They indeed do not disdain niches within such bio-geographical extremes as:

closeup of flowers and foliage of Curry Bush (Hypericum revolutum):

Abyssinian genet's floral synecology

Conclusion: Pharaonic Egypt's favorite pets amidst modern challenges

Experts and non-specialists alike cannot count upon catching sight of reclusive Abyssinian genets. Specialists expect that camera-trapping and radio-telemetry may facilitate research opportunities. But they also keep in mind that attempts to elucidate remote life cycles and natural histories find frustration in the Abyssinian genet’s:

Lindley, John. 1820. Rosarum monographia; Or, A Botanical History of Roses. To Which Is Added An Appendix, For The Use Of Cultivators, In Which The Most Remarkable Garden Varieties Are Systematically Arranged. London: Printed for J. Ridgeway.

Veron, Geraldine. 6 September 2010. "Phylogeny of the Viverridae and 'Viverrid-like' feliforms." Pp. 64-91 in Carnivoran Evolution: New Views on Phylogeny, Form and Function, edited by Anjali Goswami and Anthony Friscia. Cambridge University Press.

Mira, Genets and ringtails number among my longstanding special interests. Not much is available on them for the general public whereas information may be gleaned from the scientific domain. Genets and ringtails are elusive mammals, and many are found in protected areas where filmmaking is not easily accomplished. I'm just sharing here my longstanding interests, to familiarize readers with lesser known aspects of nature, to remind them of more familiar faunal and floral participants in nature.

I never see genets or similar animals on TV, and am intrigued to find genets and ringtails on your pages. Did you research them all as a group at one point, or are you researching them now, as you write about them?